File Photo
Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport passenger traffic in January increased 7.6 percent more than January 2015.
“It’s great to start off the year with that 7.6 percent increase in January and if we are able to follow that in February with a 15 percent increase, that is a big plus,” said Dave Edwards, GSP Airport District CEO/President.
Edwards said the positive numbers were a little surprising, especially with the $125 million terminal improvement project (Wingspan) winding down to its final seven months. The tentative completion is October.
GSP reported a positive up-tick in flights at one percent and seats up 2.3 percent.
“If we go back to early 2015, seat capacity was actually down and it was down generally for the first six months of the year,” Edwards said.
Overall load factors showed a 5.4 percent improvement in January (77.1 percent) compared to January 2015 (73.2 percent).
January Traffic Report
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Passenger Traffic |
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Jan 2016 |
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Jan 2015 |
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Percentage |
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Enplaned |
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72,305 |
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67,179 |
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7.6% |
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Deplaned |
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71,874 |
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66,782 |
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7.6% |
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Total |
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144,183 |
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133,961 |
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7.6% |
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Load factors
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Jan 2016 |
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Jan 2015 |
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Percentage Change |
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Enplanements |
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71,302 |
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67,008 |
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6.4% |
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Seats |
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92,422 |
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91,512 |
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1% |
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Load factor |
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77.1% |
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74.2% |
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5.4% |
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• Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport data
“Part of this is we finally got to maintain the capacity where we needed to be. We have higher seat capacity numbers over lower seat capacity numbers, and that is really the whole crux here,” Edwards said.
“If we have available seats at competitive pricing which is what we have today, and we have had for several years now, we will fill seats,” Edwards said.
Edwards reflected how airlines changed aircraft frequently last year coming into GSP, thus creating larger seating capacity. That reflected in lower GSP load numbers.
“We obviously got hit a little harder in 2015 in taking some aircraft out of the market and reducing capacity versus this year where we have maintained that seating capacity in the market,” Edwards said. “That’s why we are showing positive results.”